Please be kind to me as I am still new to all this, but how do I create a bump map?? Any and all help is greatly appreciated :)

If you're using Poser 4 without the Pro Pack, then use the "render" dropdown menu; select Materials, You'll see where it says "Bump Map". Click "Load" and load the file you want to turn into a bump map. A dialogue box will appear asking if you want to convert the file into a Bump Map. Select "Yes".

Cool. Thanks :)

What I do to create a bump map is make a copy of your original texture, then make it a greyscale image, and mess with the contrast, and save as texture_??bump.jpg then load it in poser as martin stated above.

Usually you have to make the grey scale image inverted in order for it to look correct as a bump map. Experiment!

(Oh my god, there is that word "experiment" again. If you lack a certain basic knowledge, experimentation is useless at best, and terribly maddening at its worst.) OK, let me ask a related dumb question: "What is a bump map? What does it do?!"

He he, where would mankind be without experimentation ;-) A bump map is a way of simulating an uneven surface on a figure or prop by applying a picture. The picture holds the information about the surface structure in a grey scale image. Darker areas are rendered as depressions, whiter areas as raised parts of the surface. The bump maps are loaded in the Materials dialog box in Poser, the same where you load the texture. You can make a bump map using the same template as the texture map. Usually i tworks pretty well by just making a grey scale image of the texture in a paint program and inverting it. Poser Pro Pack can use the grey scale picture as is. Poser without Pro Pack needs a .bum file as the bump map. That is no problem, if you load e.g. a jpg picture as a bump map, Poser will convert it to a .bum for you. The only disadvantage with that is that a .bum file is usually VERY large. It's important to note that a bump map does not alter the geometry of the figure in any way, it only creates the illusion of surface roughness when the picture is rendered. Hopes that made it at least somewhat clearer :-)

If u have learnt Max,u will know what bump work.It 's a wonderful way to create a rough surface without modify the model.For examples,u can do this to create a rough surface for an orange or a planet. -The way to create it,everybody has told.

Wow. A lot of information here. Experimenting with the contrast is one thing but how do you know if you have it set just right? Is there a thing as too little or too much in the contrast setting for the bump map work? Plesae use skin texture as an example :)

Well, using skin texture as an example, if the person looks like they are a field laborerer who's 100 years old, with the bump set high, it's probably too high. You want the skin to look real not like scar tissue. A bump map can make a lot difference in a man's texture especially, and used delicately, in a woman's as well. And, of course, it's crucial in Dragon texture. As for experimenting with, like, wall texture-- it's pretty simple. If inverting the bump map makes the grout look higher than the brick then don't invert it. I get mixed up on which is high and which is low-- I think white is high on a bump. [I mix up my right and left too]

LOL queri. Now I don't know which way to go. I understand the greyscale and the negative (which leaves me with a black image) parts, but it is the contrast part that I am having trouble with. Because I am new to this, I don't know what settings to use in the contrast.

The contrast just makes the bump clearer-- especially if the two shades of grey are very close. This is what makes the texture appear three-dimensional. Emily

Ok. I understand the concept :). Just the contrast settings I'm having trouble with. Thanks for all the help. I'll try to figure this out.

Generally in the paint programs I use, brightness goes up along with contrast so it doesn't get too muddy. I use PhotoShop mainly so it's in the Adjust menus. And usually I cheat and use Extensis Intellihance with shadow emphasis. But don't tell anyone. Emily

So you up the brightness and the contrast? Not down the contrast? LOL I use PSP and don't recognise that last thing you said ;)

Yeah, up the contrast a bit because the difference between the light and the dark is the "bump" Since Contrast can darken stuff, I often increase the brighten too, just a bit. Emily

You don't need to bump it a lot, just a bit to help define the color changes. With PSP, try leaving the lightness with no change and move the contest up 5 or 6%. It should be sufficent to enhance the shades for this purpose and won't overdarken the image.

Thanks Emily :) scifi, you mean leave lightness at zero? Ok. I'll give that a try as well :)